Transport Phenomena Commons^™

Elevated Test Pressure Significantly Reduces Dynamic Accumulation Oxygen Transmission Rate (Astm F3136) Measurement Time For Barrier Packaging Films, Bruce A. Welt

Journal of Applied Packaging Research

Measurement of gas transmission rates of materials is important for successful package design. The dynamic accumulation (DA) method (ASTM F3136) is becoming increasingly popular for measuring oxygen transmission rate (OTR) due to its simplicity and low cost. However, measurement time increases with barrier properties of materials, limiting measurement throughput. A dynamic accumulation measurement prototype capable of operating up to 1,000 psig was developed in order to accelerate gas transfer by boosting concentration gradients via elevated absolute pressures. Results show that measurement results were independent of test pressure while measurement times were substantially reduced. These results also suggest that gas transmission …

A Computational Study Of The Potential For Lng Tanker Polystyrene Foam Insulation Failure Under Fire Exposure, Jeffrey David Martinez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Liquefied natural gas is shipped across the oceans in large marine carriers. The carriers house the LNG using several different insulation systems. One of these systems involves large aluminum spheres insulated with polystyrene foam. Polystyrene foam is very susceptible to heat degradation. This raised issues as to the extent of possible insulation failure caused by a large ship fire. Experiments were done investigating the nature of polystyrene’s thermal degradation, notably by Brauman, Chen, and Matzinger and Butler. A large scale investigation was also performed by Sandia National Laboratory. However, computational modeling of the degradation was lacking. This work set out …

Coalescence-Induced Jumping Of Droplet: Inertia And Viscosity Effects, Samaneh Farokhirad, Jeffrey F. Morris, Taehun Lee

Publications and Research

The problem of coalescence-induced self-propelled jumping of droplet is studied using three-dimensional numerical simulation. The focus is on the effect of inertia and in particular the effect of air density on the behavior of the merged droplet during jumping. A lattice Boltzmann method is used for two identical, static micro-droplets coalescing on a homogeneous substrate with contact angle ranging from 0◦ to 180◦. The results reveal that the effect of air density is significant on detachment of the merged droplet from the substrate at the later stage of the jumping process; the larger the air density, the larger the jumping …

Approximate Analytical Solution For The Isothermal Lane-Emden Equation In A Spherical Geometry, Moustafa A. Soliman, Yousef S. Al-Zeghayer

Chemical Engineering

This paper obtains an approximate analytical solution for the isothermal Lane-Emden equation that models a self-gravitating isothermal sphere. The approximate solution is obtained by perturbation methods in terms of small and large distance parameters. The approximate solution is compared with the numerical solution. The approximate solution obtained is valid for all values of the distance parameter.

Low Molecular Weight Glucosamine/L-Lactide Copolymers As Potential Carriers For The Development Of A Sustained Rifampicin Release System: Mycobacterium Smegmatis As A Tuberculosis Model, Jorge Ragusa

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Tuberculosis, a highly contagious disease, ranks as the second leading cause of death from an infectious disease, and remains a major global health problem. In 2013, 9 million new cases were diagnosed and 1.5 million people died worldwide from tuberculosis. This dissertation aims at developing a new, ultrafine particle-based efficient antibiotic delivery system for the treatment of tuberculosis. The carrier material to make the rifampicin (RIF)-loaded particles is a low molecular weight star-shaped polymer produced from glucosamine (molecular core building unit) and L-lactide (GluN-LLA). Stable particles with a very high 50% drug loading capacity were made via electrohydrodynamic atomization. Prolonged …

Flow Regime Transition In Trickle Bed Reactors, Eric P. Lehmann, Gregory Honda, Arvind Varma

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

In industry, trickle bed reactors – fixed beds in which gas and liquid reactants flow concurrently downward through catalyst - are often operated at gas and liquid superficial velocities near the transition boundaries between flow regimes, especially the transition between trickle to pulse flow. Previous studies have characterized flow regime transitions as sharp transitions that occur at single superficial liquid velocities for a fixed superficial gas velocity. In reality, transitions evolve gradually over a range of superficial liquid velocities. Experiments were conducted in a fixed bed with air and water flowing concurrently downward using two different packing media. The transitions …

A Soft Condensed Matter Approach Towards Mathematical Modelling Of Mass Transport And Swelling In Food Grains, Michael Chapwanya, N. Misra

Articles

Soft condensed matter (SCM) physics has recently gained importance for a large class of engineering materials. The treatment of food materials from a soft matter perspective, however, is only at the surface and is gaining importance for understanding the complex phenomena and structure of foods. In this work, we present a theoretical treatment of navy beans from a SCM perspective to describe the hydration kinetics. We solve the transport equations within a porous matrix and employ the Flory–Huggin’s equation for polymer–solvent mixture to balance the osmotic pressure. The swelling of the legume seed is modelled as a moving boundary with …

Optimizing Polymer Fluorescence For Explosives Detection, Rose K. Cersonsky

Honors Scholar Theses

Pyrene is commonly used for explosives detection, as when mixed with polystyrene, the fluorescence intensity of the resulting film can be used as an indicator of the presence of nitro-aromatic, nitro-ether, or nitro-amine explosives. Previous studieshave tested a three-component system including pyrene, polystyrene, and a salt, tetrabutylammonium hexafluorophosphate (TBAHP). From these previous studies, it has been seen that vapor pressure of the preparation area is a governing factor in the formation of excimers, which are instrumental in achieving and maintaining fluorescence intensity. In this study, three parameters – solution concentration, film thickness, and molecular weight of polystyrene are examined to …

Model-Based Energy Analysis Of An Integrated Midrex-Based Iron/Steel Plant, Abdelhamid M. Ajbar, Khalid I. Alhumaizi, Moustafa A. Soliman, Emadadeen Ali

Chemical Engineering

This article presents modeling and simulations of an integrated plant for the production of steel using the direct reduced iron (DRI)=electric arc furnace (EAF) route. In a previous work (Alhumaizi et al., 2012), a comprehensive mathematical model of an iron plant based on MIDREX technology was developed, validated, and simulated. In this article, the model is extended to account for an empirical model of an EAF plant. Numerical simulations were carried out for the effect of different operating parameters of the integrated plant. Useful profiles as well as a summary table were compiled to illustrate the results of the sensitivity …

Quantification Of Factors Governing Drug Release Kinetics From Nanoparticles: A Combined Experimental And Mechanistic Modeling Approach, Kyle Daniel Fugit

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

Advancements in nanoparticle drug delivery of anticancer agents require mathematical models capable of predicting in vivo formulation performance from in vitro characterization studies. Such models must identify and incorporate the physicochemical properties of the therapeutic agent and nanoparticle driving in vivo drug release. This work identifies these factors for two nanoparticle formulations of anticancer agents using an approach which develops mechanistic mathematical models in conjunction with experimental studies.

A non-sink ultrafiltration method was developed to monitor liposomal release kinetics of the anticancer agent topotecan. Mathematical modeling allowed simultaneous determination of drug permeability and interfacial binding to the bilayer from release …

Ultrasound Assisted Hydration Of Navy Beans (Phaseolus Vulgaris), N. Misra

Articles

The use of ultrasound to enhance the transport phenomena in food processes has been well recognised in recent times. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of sonication on hydration rate and pasting profile of navy beans. The hydration kinetics for control and ultrasound assisted soaking was mathematically described using mechanistic (Fickian diffusion) and empirical (Peleg’s equation, Weibull model and First Order equation) models. Ultrasound enhanced the rate of hydration which was evident from the plot of kinetic data and model parameters. The effective diffusivities for water transport without and with ultrasound application were estimated to be …

Approximations To The Solution Of The Frank-Kamenetskii Equation In A Spherical Geometry, Moustafa A. Soliman

Chemical Engineering

In this paper, an approximate analytical solution for Frank-Kamenetskii equation modeling a thermal explosion in a sphere, is obtained. The approximate solution is obtained by perturbation methods in terms of small and large distance parameter. The approximate solution is compared with the numerical solution obtained from an initial value problem formulation to the original boundary value problem. The approximate solution obtained is valid for all values of the distance parameter. For the original boundary value problem and for a given Frank-Kamenetskii parameter, a nonlinear algebraic equation needs to be solved to be able to apply the approximate solution.

Nanofiltration Membranes From Oriented Mesoporous Silica Thin Films, Mary K. Wooten

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

The synthesis of mesoporous silica thin films using surfactant templating typically leads to an inaccessible pore orientation, making these films not suitable for membrane applications. Recent advances in thin film synthesis provide for the alignment of hexagonal pores in a direction orthogonal to the surface when templated on chemically neutral surfaces. In this work, orthogonal thin film silica membranes are synthesized on alumina supports using block copolymer poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(propylene glycol)-block-poly(ethylene glycol) (P123) as the template. The orthogonal pore structure is achieved by sandwiching membranes between two chemically neutral surfaces, resulting in 90 nm thick films. Solvent flux of ethanol through …

Generation Of Multicomponent Polymer Blend Microparticles Using Droplet Evaporation Technique And Modeling Evaporation Of Binary Droplet Containing Non-Volatile Solute, Venkat N. Rajagopalan

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Recently, considerable attention has been focused on the generation of nano- and micrometer scale multicomponent polymer particles with specifically tailored mechanical, electrical and optical properties. As only a few polymer-polymer pairs are miscible, the set of multicomponent polymer systems achievable by conventional methods, such as melt blending, is severely limited in property ranges. Therefore, researchers have been evaluating synthesis methods that can arbitrarily blend immiscible solvent pairs, thus expanding the range of properties that are practical. The generation of blended microparticles by evaporating a co-solvent from aerosol droplets containing two dissolved immiscible polymers in solution seems likely to exhibit a …

A Generalized Design For Affinity Chromatography Columns, Lee-Wei Kao, Nien-Hwa Linda Wang

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

In affinity chromatography, an adsorbent with a high selectivity for a target solute is used to isolate the target molecule from other impurities. With sufficient selectivity, the target molecule can be isolated in a highly purified and concentrated state. Common applications of affinity chromatography include Protein A chromatography for antibody purification and Immobilized Metal Affinity Chromatography (IMAC) for protein purification. The well-known design method based on constant-pattern mass transfer zone analysis does not apply to small feed batches, which are insufficient to form constant-pattern frontal waves. Other literature design methods rely on simulation or experimental trials that can be time-consuming …

Octanol/Water Partitioning Coefficients Of Pcb Mixtures For Environmental Fate And Transport, Phylicia Cicilio

Honors Theses and Capstones

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a human and environmental toxin introduced to the environment from the 1920’s to the 1970’s from manufacturing items such as transformers and capacitors. PCBs remain in the environment today due to their low water solubility and resistance to chemical reaction. Due to their properties PCBs bioaccumulate in the environment and pose health risks to animals and humans, as they are deemed a probable carcinogen by the EPA. Octanol-water partitioning coefficients are a means of measuring how PCBs will travel in the environment, either partitioning to water or into organic carbon. Octanol-water partitioning coefficients will be determined …

Froth Flotation Performance Enhancement By Feed Cavitation And Magnetic Plastic Particle Addition, Mehmet Saracoglu

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

Froth flotation is the most commonly used process to recover and upgrade the portion of the coal preparation plant feed that has a particle size smaller than 150 microns. Problems that occur when employing froth flotation in the coal industry include i) coal surfaces that are weakly-to-moderately hydrophobic, and ii) flotation systems that are overloaded and limited by insufficient retention time.

Research was performed to evaluate techniques that could be implemented to improve flotation performance under the aforementioned scenarios. Pre-aeration of flotation feed using a cavitation system was extensively evaluated in laboratory and full-scale test programs. The benefits of adding …

The Critical Role Of Mechanism-Based Models For Understanding And Predicting Liposomal Drug Loading, Binding And Release Kinetics, Sweta Modi

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

Liposomal delivery systems hold considerable promise for improvement of cancer therapy provided that critical formulation design criteria can be met. The main objective of the current project was to enable quality by design in the formulation of liposomal delivery systems by developing comprehensive, mechanism-based mathematical models of drug loading, binding and release kinetics that take into account not only the therapeutic requirement but the physicochemical properties of the drug, the bilayer membrane, and the intraliposomal microenvironment.

Membrane binding of the drug affects both drug loading and release from liposomes. The influence of bilayer composition and phase structure on the partitioning …

The Role Of Transport Phenomena In The Direct Oxidation Of Solid Fuels, Charles J. Banas

Master's Theses

Direct carbon fuel cells have shown promise for stationary power generation by utilizing the direct oxidation of a solid carbon fuel source at the anode. In laboratory settings, researchers have reported up to 300mA/cm2 of current density from these cells types which suffer from mass transport losses. This paper studies the surface properties of the solid fuel source, and describes the process of CO2 evolution through an analogy to pool boiling. In nucleate boiling (a subset of pool boiling) vapor bubbles grow from nucleation sites where gas are trapped in micro-cavities on the surface. Carbon surfaces possess these same features, …

Controlling Nanoparticles Formation In Molten Metallic Bilayers By Pulsed-Laser Interference Heating, Mikhail Khenner, Sagar Yadavali, Ramki Kalyanaraman

Mathematics Faculty Publications

The impacts of the two-beam interference heating on the number of core-shell and embedded nanoparticles and on nanostructure coarsening are studied numerically based on the non-linear dynamical model for dewetting of the pulsed-laser irradiated, thin (< 20 nm) metallic bilayers. The model incorporates thermocapillary forces and disjoining pressures, and assumes dewetting from the optically transparent substrate atop of the reflective support layer, which results in the complicated dependence of light reflectivity and absorption on the thicknesses of the layers. Stabilizing thermocapillary effect is due to the local thickness-dependent, steady- state temperature profile in the liquid, which is derived based on the mean substrate temperature estimated from the elaborate thermal model of transient heating and melting/freezing. Linear stability analysis of the model equations set for Ag/Co bilayer predicts the dewetting length scales in the qualitative agreement with experiment.